The 10th World Water Forum was held in Bali, Indonesia. At the high-level meeting held on May 20, President Joko of Indonesia, the host country, emphasized the crisis by stating that “Water is not just a product of nature.” and “We need collective efforts to protect water.”, and called for the establishment of an international research institute for water resource management. Issues regarding water and sanitation including the establishment of a fund to support people to have access to clean water in emerging and developing countries and how international laws managing transboundary waters (lake and river basins and aquifers) should be enforced were discussed at the meeting.

Water scarcity is serious. Approximately 2 billion people worldwide still do not have access to safe drinking water, and 1.4 billion people are affected by drought. On the other hand, the amount of water use has been increasing worldwide. Global water demand is expected to grow by 40% until 2050, and the supply-demand gap is projected to depress economic growth by up to 6%. It is said that 90% of the disasters in the world are related to water, and conflicts between nations over water resources can trigger wars. The water-related problems cannot be solved by just one country.

In March 2023, the United Nations also held the “UN 2023 Water Conference” on the same subject for the first time in 46 years. The conference adopted the “Water Action Agenda,” representing more than 700 commitments announced from the public and private sectors to sustain water resources, and the “Freshwater Challenge,” an international framework to restore biodiversity in the freshwater environment and achieve sustainable use of freshwater, was launched. What the world should achieve is the “Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6),” and the idea of “redirecting the world water-resource policy” toward achieving this goal was shared among the participants in the conference.

On May 20, Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central / JR Tokai) suspended tunnel excavation work for the Linear Chuo Shinkansen due to low water levels in reservoirs, wells, etc. in Gifu. Leaving aside the political reputation of the former prefectural governor of Shizuoka, who has expressed concern about this problem, this is a good opportunity to review the rationality of the plan itself, not to mention the construction method. There are some arguments that the linear should be used as a bypass for the Tokaido Shinkansen in the event of earthquakes, and a priority in this sense should be placed on the development of infrastructure that can address urgent and large-volume freight transport. For the long-term national interests including conservation of water resources, transportation system for delivering relief supplies in emergencies, future prospects for high-speed rail passenger demand, construction costs, technological ripple effects, regional revitalization, travel time reduction, and maintenance costs including power supply, and from the perspective of the overall environmental burden including SDG 6, we should review our projects and policies and calmly discuss the issues once again. It is not too late now to revise the policy of the “1973 Basic Plan.”

This Week’s Focus, May 24

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President